More Sydney

Things in Sydney are still progressing in the right direction. I scored a full time job through a labour agency, doing manufacturing work, finishing tables and chairs that are used in private schools. Mostly I do powder coating, which is spraying powdered paint that turns into gloss when baked in an oven. I did find out the other day that powder coating works by sticking to the surface by static electricity, electricity being the prime word here. So basically DO NOT touch the metal object you are spraying. You will get electricuted. I found this out the hard way. It's paying the bills, and that makes me happy.

As far as life at the hostel goes, I'm beginning to realize that the crowd here is not the same as it was the last time I was here, instead there are a bunch of snobby Brits that seem to think they're better than anyone not British. I heard that the Empire had been dissolved a long time ago, but I guess they still have the Falklands. I'm starting to feel like I should find a real house soon, maybe for the new year. The backpacker scene here is much different from anywhere I've been, and it's time I should try to make my original plan of settling down in Australia for a bit come true. That and staying in the hostel for a week over New Years Eve would cost me $990 for accommodation. I'd rather fly to Indonesia for a week than pay that, and I'm sure I would spend less...

The Chi

Things are finally coming together! My work situation has been great; I worked yesterday, half a day today, have work on Monday, possibly Tuesday, and for sure on Wednesday and Thursday. And if that's not enough, last night at Tranny Bingo (an event the hostel goes to; bingo hosted by transvestites) I won $150!!! Needless to say I'm going out for some well earned beers tonight. I think beer pong is going on tonight...

My chi is slowly being re-aligned. Being back at the Blue Parrot and among friends has been great so far, and is exactly what I needed. And word from my Mom and Sister today is that they're going to be here for three weeks in December. Life is great once again.

Back To Square One

Square one being Sydney. My yesterday evening flight became more delayed, and more delayed, until it was finally cancelled outright at the airport. Bad weather (because of the crazy humidity and heat here) made the flight late getting into Hobart, then unable to fly to Sydney due to the Sydney Airport not accepting flight between 23:00 and 05:00. We were then shuttled back to Hobart where Jetstar put us up in a hotel for the night. Since I had no plans and didn't need to be in Sydney right away, this worked out great for me. In addition to a free breakfast I also received a fifty dollar credit from Jetstar, which will definitely come in handy at some point on my trip.

So now I'm back in the city I started in, back in the hostel I had a great time in, and back among friends. The biggest difference is that it's hot here. I have landscaping work lined up for tomorrow and Friday, and I think I'm going to sweat like crazy.

Back to the Main Land

The past few days I've had to make some adjustments to attempt to straighten out my situation for the next month. This new job of mine turned out to be a false hope; I was scheduled for a whopping four hours next week, and was told it would be like that the following week, then it would be increased to a mind blowing twelve hours! I'm not sure how they figured a person could survive on that, but this guy obviously can't, and won't. I walked in there today and quit. After that I returned to the hostel where I booked a flight back to Sydney. And back to the Blue Parrot I go, the awesome hostel where I had a great five weeks, and hopefully another five. I figure I should be able to score some more labour work while I'm there and hopefully come out a little ahead for when my Mom and Sister arrive in December. After that I plan to bear down and work work work, and hopefully turn the tables of a trip to Australia that right now is looking like a mistake. Four thousand dollars and my best photographic work down from where I was before I came here goes completely against my 'forward only' philosophy, and this frustrates me to a severe degree.

Fingers crossed. That's all I can do right now.

????

This hostel is bizarre. Two old people are watching Christmas songs off a DVD in the common room, an older bald guy that must have Tourettes (his head shakes violently when he has his face pressed up to his computer screen) just walked around the kitchen in his underwear and a jean shirt. This place is fucking weird...

Wine Glasses and Dissenting

On Thursday I rented a car with a Dutch girl I met at the hostel and took off to Wine Glass Bay, a scenic area north of Hobart. The drive was very scenic, and the day was clear and beautiful. It felt good just to drive a car again. It was my first time driving a car on the left side of the road; the driving part wasn't really the problem, it was the orientation of everything inside the car. I kept on turning on the windshield wipers when I wanted to signal, and I kept on reaching over my left shoulder to fasten my seatbelt, only to be swatting at thin air.



Wine Glass Bay was very beautiful. We started by wandering around Coles Bay, on the other side of the mountain, first, then heading up to the viewpoint over Wine Glass Bay. I found the viewpoint to mediocre, but when we headed down the mountain and hit the beach, it was far from mediocrity. The white sand was fine, much like a Thai beach. The water was cold as balls, however. My feet were more than I wanted to immerse in it. We took another way back to the parking lot, which lead around the mountain we crossed to get to the beach. The path wasn't very exciting, the highlight of it a pleasant beach that had a mother Wallaby with a Joey.

On Friday I started my new job at the Kathmandu outdoor gear store. I was really thrown to the wolves this first time round by being put on the sales floor without knowing anything about the store or it's products, but simply telling people I didn't really know much but would help them out was a more than adequate response for them. One kick ass part of the day was when I received a voucher for an employee discount of 70% off for anything in the store. Time to buy some new gear!



Yesterday I braved the soggy, shit ass weather and headed out to the Parliament Grounds to take part in the Occupy Movement, a worldwide protest that's been ongoing around the world, aimed at stopping corporate greed. It started out well, but seemed to lose it's steam quickly. The message started to get blurred when everyone split off into groups to talk about different aspects of civil liberties, workers rights, etc. It slowly became more of a forum than a protest, like there was no fight in anyone. However, it was good to see the Australian point of view on the matter, and the fact that the crowd was diverse, a bold sign that more and more people are taking notice of this world problem.

Plugging the Money Drain

I can finally stop the steady drain of funds from my back account, now that I have a job! On Monday I got hired on at a local outdoor gear store, doing retail work. It's not many hours right now, but hopefully that will change within the next month. On the TasRail job front, I had an interview with an immigration lawyer they hired for me on Tuesday, and she told me that with my qualifications, I had a good chance of getting a work residence visa. The only downside to this is that it might take up to six months to process the visa. I can only hope that the paperwork goes through quickly enough to trim some time off this. Although it's not totally bad, if I have to wait that long then in the New Year I'll spend it doing some farm or winery work to build up funds, then travel with the time I have left. I do still want to do Indonesia...